Saturday, April 9, 2011

Hey Friends- I have been so busy recording my new Cd that I have not posted in a while! Well, the new CD, The Quiet American Vol II, is done and being printed. If you want to get it a couple of weeks before the release date, then paypal $15 to info@quietamericanmusic.com and you will get a signed Cd, a poster and a sticker!

Friday, March 11, 2011

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

For the next 36 hours, all of my songbooks and cds have free shipping!http://www.etsy.com/shop/LazarusBooks-Two Chord Songs-Cocktail Recipes and Drinking Songs-The Quiet American-Born In the Country, Raised In Town-Blank Notebooks

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Friday night, Scott and I are playing three songs with our friends Faceman. The show is called The First Waltz and it will have Faceman playing with members of Bob Skizzum, Chris McGarry, The Knew, Long Road Home, Slim Cessna's Auto Club, Boulder Acoustic Society and more. Peep the vid:

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

I play every night with a band that also has bass, drums and organ. I play acoustic guitar, electric guitar, banjo and uke, all through the same signal path into a Fender pro junior amp. I used to use a piezo pickup, which sounds pretty good through a DI, but I wanted to use a pickup that sounded better through the amp.

I ended up wiring the banjo with a P90 guitar pickup!

Here is a short vid and sound sample:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRe7Ri4uNDI

It is capable of loud clean and overdriven tones. I can run reverb or delay or boost or whatever else I want. Also, it feeds back less than the piezo used to. I think it has a better "natural" sound than any piezo I have tried!

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

I finally set myself up to get bulk florocarbon strings for ukulele. I bought 5 spools of 50 meters each, which should be 75-100 sets of strings. I made a quick little holder out of a dowel and maple. Notice I wrote the string gauges on the blocks so I don't have to keep looking them up!

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

I just fixed up an old Holiday electric guitar. It was made by Harmony in the early 6o's and re-labeled for sale by a retailer. It is basically an H47 Mars Stratotone. It is a hollow maple body with no soundholes, one single coil pickup with volume and tone and a short 24 inch scale. I had to add a new volume pot, tone pot, jack and tuners. I also pulled the frets, planed the fingerboard and re-fretted. It is easy to play and has a unique sound. Check it out:

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Alan Rosen came to my shop this winter to learn how to build a uke. I basically made up his parts as a kit and guided him through the process, with lots of education along the way. He ended up with a spruce and myrtle tenor with rosewood fingerboard and bridge. Are you interested in learning how to build a uke? Drop me a line for pricing and availability. info@thebeansprout.com